This One Is For All My Homies

Since my rap career under the alias "High Stile" is just starting to blossom, I figured that I would hit you guys with a goodbye flow.  But just a few things to keep in mind before you read it:

  1) You have to be dropping a beat before you start
  2) Picture me in my element - on a stage in a crowded club just going hard on the mic
  3) I mean it, there's an actual crowd of fans in the club
  4) I'm going to spell words in the slang way to say them

      and finally... 

  5) There is a reason that my fame does not extend beyond AP English

Alright, so here we go...

This is the end, AP English is all ova,
It all went by so fast, no more papers no more poems.
Not another data sheet, we all have done 'em,
But when we are in college we will be thankful for 'em

These two years, yeah they were pretty tight.
I'll miss analyzing all of my Sunday nights.
Marking up the poem, marking up the prompt,
Underline the matches or you'll be stomped.

I won't forget, swapping lit devices
With my writing partners - a speaking point crisis
Self-deprecation, always one of my vices
But I've grown out of it, no need to roll dices

Now were here, the end of Senior year
I cannot not believe that were finally in the clear
It was a long journey, but no need to fear
AP English prepared us for successful careers.

Dear Anon. Sophomore,

So, you are deciding your fate for your junior year of high school.  Well let me tell you, there may be a couple of difficult choices that you'll have to make, but the choice for English is easy.  If you like puppy dogs and chocolate, then AP English is the place for you!

That was a joke.  I used verbal irony to juxtapose what really happens in AP English with what never happens in any high school class ever.  Oh, I'm sorry, have I lost you? Well, if you would like to keep up with my complex analytical sentences, then I suppose you have no option but to take AP English next year.  You see, remember that packet of terms you received from your teacher at the beginning of the year, but only used sparingly as a set of guidelines of sorts?  Well, get ready to commit them to memory, because for two straight years you will have those babies burned into your brain on a daily basis.  Otherwise, check out the picture on Jillian's blog.  You will feel the wrath of that woman.  And remember your friends? Yeah, those other humans you spend time with? Forget about them. They might as well live on another continent, because you won't be seeing them very often.  Unless they take AP English with you.  Then you will be best friends.

But honestly, AP English is really difficult.  No joking anymore.  I'm going to use my concrete diction and matter-of-fact tone.  It is a challenge, but in hindsight it really is a challenge worth taking.  Believe me, I have actually cursed the class - at points in time very recent leading up to this post.  But there are invaluable benefits to it all.  You will learn to ACTUALLY write.  Think you're pretty good now? You aren't. Trust me. But you can be, and you will be.  You just have to make the effort.  And you WILL make good friends in class.  Well, you're forced to, because you have writing partners, and if you don't like each other than you will have a really awkward time.  But me and my writing partners, we're all tight.  We formed a gang and cause mayhem on the weekends. Sorry, that was a joke that I let slip.  Nonetheless, AP English is worth the sacrifices.  It takes you to a whole other level, but its a level that you are better off reaching for now than in college.  But the choice is yours.  Make the right one for you.  Because Everything ends, and Everything Matters.

Love, Chris (AKA High Stile)

PS, if you get really popular, you even get a cool street name like me

Mistaking Failure For Success

1 Othello: "Look how he laughs already!" (Shakespeare 4.1.11)
2 Algernon: "Yes, but [he] must be serious about it (Wilde 8)
3 Ashoke: "There is a reason for it, you know" (Lahiri 123)
4 Algernon: "I am afraid so" (Wilde 31) 
5 Ashoke: "You forgot to mention that he was also a genius" (Lahiri 100)
6 Othello: "Are you sure of that?" (Shakespeare 4.1.227)
7 Ashoke: "I suppose" (Lahiri 16)
8Algernon: "He has no taste in neckties at all" (Wilde 24)
9 Othello: "Most veritable" (Shakespeare 3.4.76)
10 Ashoke: "What's done is done" (Lahiri 99)
11 Algernon: "Science is always making wonderful improvements in things" (Wilde 42)
12 Othello: "Tis monstrous" (Shakespeare 2.3.216)
13 Algernon: "Sentiment is my forte" (Wilde 1)
14 Othello: "O, thou art wise!" (Shakespeare 4.1.76)
15 Algernon: "If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated" (30)

The Noble Moor

"Is this the noble Moor whom our full Senate/ Call all in all sufficient?” (4.1.264-265)  Why, yes it is.  Between The Importance of Being Earnest, Othello, and The Namesake, Shakespeare's tragic play of the Moorish general which we read in the fall is still my favorite.  I really enjoyed this book for a few reasons.  For one, it was the first we had to memorize quotes for, and so I went overboard on the studying.  As such, I can pull out random quotes in casual conversation like "Reputation is an idle and/ most false imposition” (2.3.267-268).  So I suppose that the book has just stuck with me.  But I also enjoyed the play we went and saw (except for the part when Othello pulled out the gun and killed himself, that was ridiculous).  It made the play much more memorable, and brought the book to life in a way that I (as an ignorant, not very cultural high school boy) never could have imagined.  The play was also a nice break - for one day - from poetry papers, where despite Ms. Serensky's cautioning, "don't make self deprecating comments while you read them out loud,"  I would start off with "This is the night/ That either makes me or fordoes me quite" (5.1.128-129).  But apart from the perks of reading Othello, I actually did enjoy the story quite a bit.  Considering it was the first bit of Shakespeare that I ever read AND understood, it has a special little place in my literary history.  I just wish that I knew exactly how to pronounce "Iago."

(Please excuse the PG-13 content, its absolutely worth it)

Top Ten Plays

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to SportsCenter.  Up next we have our top ten academic plays of Chris L's high school career, because... well... he's not much of an athlete.  Regardless, hold on to the edge of your seats - we got some good ones.

10 - Up first is when Chris got an A on his 10th grade English research project.  Granted that he got to work with two friends of his and play video games as an excuse for homework and research (you could say his "duty as a gentleman has never interfered with [his] pleasures in the smallest degree," but the long hours of writing and the completion of the most daunting task many high schoolers face was historic (Wilde 30).

9 - Next we have the perfect score he received on one of Mr. Kerul's most brutal closed calculator trig tests in sophomore year.  Typically, when it comes to Mr. Kerul's often confusing and overly challenging tests, "they eat us hungrily, and when they are full, they belch us" (Shakespeare 3.4.105-106).  But this 50/50 he received was so mind blowing that he kept it til this day, mostly to brag about the absurd answer of (x - 7/158)^2 + (y - 1 and 139/158)^2 = 885842/24964 to a question about an equation for a circle which he answered correctly.

8 - His 5 on the AP Calculus AB test Junior year.  His second 5, this score managed to continue his streak of mathematical excellence, which was slightly blemished by his admittedly poor performance on the Mock AP test Mix Master Maas crafted for this students.  But after this "[numbed] him, like a poison," sure enough, he turned Mr. Maas's frown up-side-down with his good score (Lahiri 282). :C ---> C:

7 -  Not so much of a triumph, but just a recognizable moment was when Chris had completed his first semester finals of Senior year, the last finals he would ever have to take in high school.  He could finally "Put out the light" (Shakespeare 5.2.7)

6 - The 4 he got on the AP Physics.  While it is not a 5, this score was still impressive for Chris, who was stumped by Physics most of the time.  After he saw the score, he kept thinking "'I don't know.  It's not what I thought it would be'" (Lahiri 252).

5 - The 5 he got on AP Comp Sci, in only his sophomore year.  In a class of mostly Juniors and Seniors, Chris took on the challenge with only 3 other sophomores.  In this rather difficult course, in which "the truth is rarely pure and never simple," he mastered the material under the teaching of the brilliant Ms. Petite, and scored a 5 on the first AP test he ever took (Wilde 6).

4 - Austin Sauey, Alex Kreger, Brian Binder, and Chris all worked together on a Spanish movie project, for a movie to be based off of a story called "El Novio Robado."  The 22 minute epic film also completed a trilogy of Spanish films they had made, of the title "Zapatolones," a name which roughly translates to "shoe-pants."  Upon completion of the movie (in which "the good ended happily, and the bad unhappily," the boys earned 100% on the project, as well as special calls home from Sra. Walsh herself to congratulate us on the excellent (and perhaps even over the top) job they did (Wilde 22).

3 - Near the end of Junior year, Chris discovered that he was accepted to attend the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Summer Seminar, a two week scholarship art program to which he applied (all expenses paid).  It took place in the beginning of July in Colorado Springs, and he meet 20 highly talented artists and new friends.  Often times, he misses this time in which he hung out with new friends and made art all day long, and he curses "O, blood, blood, blood!" (Shakespeare 3.3.448).

2 - In the fall of Senior year, Chris was inducted into the Cum Laude Society, a very prestigious academic honor.  Even so, more hard school work had to be done, because metaphorically, "the muffins are the same" (Wilde 41).

1 - In Mid December, Chris received notification of his acceptance into the University of Cincinnati, at which he will study Industrial Design.  In all of the excitement about college, he could not help but wonder "When would it sink in?" (Lahiri 226).

Poetry............... Redux

Is it ironic that my first blog was about poetry and now here we are blogging about poetry at the end of the year?  Well... situationally ironic at least.  Nostalgia aside, "I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak" (Shakespeare 5.2.181).  In my first post about poetry, I admit some of the inroads the art form made in me, such as an appreciation for it... Oh dear, should I really "utter my thoughts? Why, say they are vile and false" (Shakespeare 3.3.136)... Nonetheless, while I still do appreciate it, I cannot honestly really admit that I truly like and enjoy poetry.  A big reason is that still, for the most part, it is over my head (against popular belief, a prowess for English class is not exactly one of my characteristics as the most popular kid in class).  But if I had to pick a favorite poem, mine would be the first sestina we read in class, "Sestina" by Ciara Shuttleworth (the one that went "you used to love my well"). For one, it was short.  I liked that.  Secondly, it was actually pretty amusing, especially to read out loud.  The stammering of the speaker actually made me "LOL" a couple of times.  For real.  But I also was able to understand what was happening... I think.  For instance, If I met the speaker in the poem, I would probably say something to them like, "I see you are eaten up with passion" (Shakespeare 3.3.388), because they were quite distraught in their love life.  I also liked the creativity of the poem.  It took the unique style of sestina and made it even more interesting, by using only one word for each line.  While my taste in poetry is not very refined, my foolish and innocent instinct is to pick the one that I just simply enjoy the most.  So, good work Ciara Shuttleworth.  I hope you make some solid bank on your poetry endeavors.

The Most Popular Kid in AP English 12

I'd never been popular before.  I'd never really concerned myself with the potential of popularity, as I always thought that "reputation is an idle and/ most false imposition" (Shakespeare 2.3.267-268).  Or maybe it was because I was a complete weird-o in middle school, but I digress. It took until about the beginning of senior year for most people to realize how witty, intelligent, talented, caring, good looking, and funny I am (so far, no one has caught onto how conceited, however).  But the one day where the class actually recognized me for my unparalleled popularity, I felt honored.  I cannot exactly remember how this acknowledgement came about, but between all my well timed jokes, my catchy street name (High Stile), and my unmatched mastery of the English language, it was no question that I had the student's ovation and fame forever.  On the contrary, all of this newly bestowed glory was so sudden that I couldn't quite grasp it all.  I just kept wondering, "when would it sink in?" (Lahiri 226).  But now that I am indeed the most popular kid in AP English 12, I cannot keep my peers from fawning all over me.  In fact, I hardly have to keep track of any of my responsibilities, since I have fellow students just waiting for the chance to take care of them for me.  You could say that "my duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures in the smallest degree" (Wilde 30).  Now I have plenty of time for all of my favorite hobbies, like drawing, playing guitar, and bunburying.  So without contention, my favorite day in English was when I became the most popular kid in class.